Congratulations to the finalists of the Third Annual Bravo Awards! The winners of each category are presented in bold. Where applicable, the runners-up are italicised.

Additionally, if you’d like to view every puzzle and hunt which was nominated at least once (but may not have necessarily been selected as a finalist), you can view the full list of 200+ puzzles and 20+ hunts here.

Hunts

ASmall Hunt of the YearAuthors
1CMU Spring Hunt 23 - PrehistoryPuzzle Hunt CMU
2Edric 23 - The 2023 DUAL Puzzle HuntEdric Haleen, Deusovi, Stratton Vakirtzis, Anthony Hoover
3First Day on the JobJen McTeague
4Grand Hunt Digital 23/r/ConstructedAdventures
5P.I. Hunt 9 - R.T.3 SEARCHJack Lance
6Puzzled Pint Sept 23 - Quantum PhysicsBill Gardner
BLarge Hunt of the YearAuthors
1BAPHL 22 - Boston Area Puzzle Hunt League 22 - Bogus Academic Professors Having Lunch-
2BPH23 - Brown Puzzlehunt 23 - Blueno Resurrection SocietyBrown Puzzle Club
3GPH23 - Galactic Puzzle Hunt 23 - GalactiCardCaptors✈✈✈ Galactic Trendsetters ✈✈✈
4Halpin 23 - Mark Halpin’s Labor Day Extravaganza 23 - Two on the IsleMark Halpin
5Huntinality 3 - Hunts Upon a TimeCardinality
6Shardhunt - The Library of Babel17th Shard
CExtremely Large Hunt of the YearAuthors
1ABCDEFG - Admiral Boötes’ Cosmic Discovery Expedition: Further Galaxiesteammate
2CCBC13 - Cipher & Code Breaking Competition 13simplicissimus
3MITMH23 - MIT Mystery Hunt 23 - Puzzle Factoryteammate
4MSPH23 - Microsoft Puzzle Hunt 23 - Puzzle University-
5P&KU2 - Puzzle and Key Universe 2北京大学推理协
DBest DirectionAuthors
1GPH23 - Galactic Puzzle Hunt 23 - GalactiCardCaptors✈✈✈ Galactic Trendsetters ✈✈✈
2Huntinality 3 - Hunts Upon a TimeCardinality
3MITMH23 - MIT Mystery Hunt 23 - Puzzle Factoryteammate
4P.I. Hunt 9 - R.T.3 SEARCHJack Lance
5Shardhunt - The Library of Babel17th Shard
EBest Visual DesignAuthors
1BPH23 - Brown Puzzlehunt 23 - Blueno Resurrection SocietyBrown Puzzle Club
2GPH23 - Galactic Puzzle Hunt 23 - GalactiCardCaptors✈✈✈ Galactic Trendsetters ✈✈✈
3Huntinality 3 - Hunts Upon a TimeCardinality
4MITMH23 - MIT Mystery Hunt 23 - Puzzle Factoryteammate
5MSPH23 - Microsoft Puzzle Hunt 23 - Puzzle UniversityMatt Du, Dana Young
FBest NarrativeAuthors
1CMU Spring Hunt 23 - PrehistoryPuzzle Hunt CMU
2GPH23 - Galactic Puzzle Hunt 23 - GalactiCardCaptors✈✈✈ Galactic Trendsetters ✈✈✈
3Huntinality 3 - Hunts Upon a TimeCardinality
4MITMH23 - MIT Mystery Hunt 23 - Puzzle Factoryteammate
5P.I. Hunt 9 - R.T.3 SEARCHJack Lance
6P&KU2 - Puzzle and Key Universe 2北京大学推理协
7Shardhunt - The Library of Babel17th Shard
GMost Innovative StructureAuthors
1CCBC13 - Cipher & Code Breaking Competition 13simplicissimus
2Edric 23 - The 2023 DUAL Puzzle HuntEdric Haleen, Deusovi, Stratton Vakirtzis, Anthony Hoover
3GPH23 - Galactic Puzzle Hunt 23 - GalactiCardCaptors✈✈✈ Galactic Trendsetters ✈✈✈
4MITMH23 - MIT Mystery Hunt 23 - Puzzle Factoryteammate
5P.I. Hunt 9 - R.T.3 SEARCHJack Lance
6Shardhunt - The Library of Babel17th Shard

Puzzles

HBest Meta PuzzleAuthors
1Admiral Bootes : Metameta (ABCDEFG)Alex Pei, Bryan Lee, Harrison Ho, Herman Chau, and Ivan Wang, with art by Ariel Uy, Catherine Wu, Herman Chau
2Before & After : Hard Half Meta (Edric 23 DUAL)Deusovi, Edric Haleen
3Hall of Innovation : Innovation Meta / The Blueprint : Factory Floor Meta (MITMH23)Catherine Wu, Ivan Wang, Jacqui Fashimpaur, and Vinjai Vale, with art by Olga Vinogradova
4Kero : Final Boss Battle (GPH23)Colin Lu
5Mathematics Meta (MSPH23)Jonah Ostroff
6Period of Wyrm : The Wyrmhole Metameta (MITMH23)Alex Irpan, Brian Shimanuki, Jacqui Fashimpaur, and Olga Vinogradova
7The Death of the Library / (redacted name) : Floor 3 Metas (Shardhunt)Adeline Wong, Thomas Gordon, and Ella Sheffield
8Transmutation Station : The Witch’s Hut Meta (Huntinality 3)Bryce Cai
IBest Word PuzzleAuthors
1Deconstructed Crossword (ABCDEFG)Harrison Ho, Herman Chau, and Ivan Wang
2Haloanaka (Halpin 23)Mark Halpin
3Inscription (MITMH23)Asher Walkover
4Long Cube (Huntinality 3)Bryce Cai
5Spelling Bee (GPH23)Josh Alman, Jenna Himawan, and Nathan Pinsker
6This Puzzle is Just Another Regular Cryptic (MITMH23)Ivan Wang
7Two for the Price of One by Will NedigerWill Nediger
JBest Logic PuzzleAuthors
1⚫ (Huntinality 3)Max Chang
2Dahan Conundrum (ABCDEFG)Lumia Neyo and Patrick Xia
3Identification (Shardhunt)Yanaphat Hemrattaphan
4Miss Yu (GPH23)Amon Ge
5Moonick (GPH23)Yannick Yao
6Tinder (CMUS23 Prehistory)Kevin Zhou (Kaz), Farid Khuri-Makdisi, Summit Wei
7World’s Smallest Logic Puzzles (MITMH23)Alex Gotsis, Alex Pei, and Ivan Wang
KBest Twist on a Classic StyleAuthors
1🔲 (Huntinality 3)Ryan Liu, Dan Simon
2Bird Conundrum (Huntinality 3)Dan Simon
3Financial Crimes (BPH23)Alex DeFranco, Thomas Mowen
4Hall of Archaeology (MITMH23)Asher Walkover and Nicholai Dimov
5How the Other Half Lives (MSPH23)Justin Melvin, Jonah Ostroff
6MATH 7 Practical Applications of Green’s Theorem (MSPH23)Mike Sylvia
7World’s Largest Logic Puzzle (MITMH23)Alex Pei
LBest Physical PuzzleAuthors
1Exhibit of Colors (MITMH23)Mona Wang, Tracey Lin
2Find Oren (BPH23)Ian Rider, Oren Kohavi
3Flexibility (Shardhunt)Thomas Gordon
4QR Code Sequence (Pi Hunt 9 / RT3) (see note to view)Jack Lance
5Subterranean Secrets (MITMH23)Catherine Wu, Katie Dunn
6Weaver (MITMH23)Alex Irpan, Brian Shimanuki, Tracey Lin
7Word Wide Web (BAPHL22)Jen McTeague
MBest Interactive PuzzleAuthors
1beeBay Fulfillment Center (GPH23)Violet Xiao and Anderson Wang
2Collage (MITMH23)Alex Irpan, Brian Shimanuki, and Jacqui Fashimpaur
3Final Keypad Puzzle (Pi Hunt 9 / RT3) (see note to view)Jack Lance
4Keep Out (Huntinality 3)Darren Lee
5Pushing the Rules (Shardhunt)Thomas Gordon
6Quandle (MITMH23)Alex Irpan
7The Lernaean Hydra (MSPH23)Justin Melvin
NBest Puzzle in a Non-English LanguageAuthors
1Book of Fixed Stars (MITMH23)Justin Yokota, Lumia Neyo, Mona Wang
2万古大魔法书 (P&KU2)Winfrid, 榆木华
3提词卡 (CCBC13)Leaving Leaves
4无字天书 (CCBC13)Yao Yu
5爱慕猫体邻国斯必克二 (P&KU2)River
6神奇宝贝在哪里 (CCBC13)Yao Yu
OBest Puzzle Which Doesn’t Fit Another Category On This ListAuthors
15D Barred Diagramless with Multiverse Time Travel (MITMH23)Alex Irpan, with help from Holly Sipek
2City and Forest (ABCDEFG)Brian Shimanuki
3Flight of the Babelbees (Shardhunt)Yanaphat Hemrattaphan
4Learning from Our Old Mistakes (MSPH23)Jonah Ostroff, Justin Melvin
5Pyramid Schemes (MSPH23)Jonah Ostroff
6Ted Tales (ABCDEFG)Catherine Wu and Katie Dunn
7The Launch of This Puzzle Has Been Delayed (Shardhunt)Ella Sheffield, Mitchell Rosenberg, Yanaphat Hemrattaphan, and Julie Sheffield
8X-Talk (ABCDEFG)Brian Shimanuki

Puzzle Aspects

PBest Introductory Round or HuntAuthors
1Asteroid Database Round - Cipher & Code Breaking Competition 13 (CCBC13)simplicissimus
2CMU Orientation Hunt 2023Puzzle Hunt CMU
3Easy Half - The 2023 DUAL Puzzle Hunt (Edric 23 DUAL)Edric Haleen, Deusovi
4Placement Test Round - Microsoft Puzzle Hunt 23 (MSPH23)Dana Young, Derek Young
5Round 1 - CMU Fall Hunt 23 (CMUF23 - Magic)Puzzle Hunt CMU
6Round 1 - Grand Hunt Digital 23/r/ConstructedAdventures
QBest Introductory PuzzleAuthors
1Fruit Math (Huntinality 3)Bryce Cai, Dan Simon
2Now I Know (GPH23)Ben Yang
3Spinosaurus (CMUS23 Prehistory)Kevin Zhou (Kaz)
4The Bakery (Huntinality 3)Pichusuperlover
5You’re Telling Me (MITMH23)Liam Thomas
RFunniest PuzzleAuthors
1Backbeat (Shardhunt)Thomas Gordon
2Infinitely Many Hogs (and Logs) (GPH23)Violet Xiao
3Interpretive Art (MITMH23)Alex Irpan, Ivan Wang
4One of the Puzzles of All Time (MITMH23)Austin Lei, Cameron Montag
5Ozymandias (MSPH23)Jonah Ostroff, Mike Sylvia
6Sociology of Education (MSPH23)Jonah Ostroff, Mike Sylvia
7The Lernaean Hydra (MSPH23)Justin Melvin
SBest SolutionAuthors
15D Barred Diagramless with Multiverse Time Travel (MITMH23)Alex Irpan, with help from Holly Sipek
2ARECIBOAR (GPH23)Amon Ge
3Dahan Conundrum (ABCDEFG)Lumia Neyo and Patrick Xia
4Gessner Mom (GPH23)Kevin Matthew Li
5KarAO3ke (Shardhunt)Adeline Wong
6Kero (GPH23)Colin Lu
7Long Cube (Huntinality)Bryce Cai
TNuovo Award for Puzzling InnovationAuthors
1Puzzle - Learning from Our Old Mistakes (MSPH23)Jonah Ostroff, Justin Melvin
2Puzzle - The Lernaean Hydra (MSPH23)Justin Melvin
3Round - Conjuri’s Quest (MITMH23)Dominick Joo, Nathan Pinsker, Patrick Xia, with art by Jun Huo
4Round - CS (MSPH23)Amos Eshel
5Round - Hall of Innovation (MITMH23)Catherine Wu, Ivan Wang, Jacqui Fashimpaur, Vinjai Vale
6Round - Sociology (MSPH23)Jonah Ostroff
7Round - Trial of Silence (Huntinality 3)Dan Simon, Bryce Cai, Pichusuperlover

People

UBest Non-Puzzle Contribution to the Hunt CommunityAuthors
1Bot Be Named - A discord to GSheets automation bot.Soni (TalesFromTim) and Kevin Esslinger
2Bravo Awards - An award series to recognise awesome things in puzzlehunts.Various
3Google Sheets Puzzle Tricks - A repo of many useful Named Functions.Jonah Ostroff (SoftFro)
4List of Puzzlehunts - A nearly exhaustive list of puzzlehunts (with links).Brian Chen (betaveros)
5Puzzle Wiki - A wiki with round the year updates about everything related to puzzlehunts.Various
6Puzzle.js - A tool to make and embed simple interactive puzzles in HTML pages.Kenny Young (tabascq)
7TPH-Site, Spoilr and Puzzup - Infrastructure for hosting puzzlehunt websites, handling hunt management and editing/testing puzzles. Based on earlier infrastructure by ✈✈✈ Galactic Trendsetters ✈✈✈ and Palindrome.teammate
8What’s That Flat? - An NPL Flats guide. Based on earlier work by Hudu, Brillig, Treesong, and Sibyl.David Millar
VBest Puzzle-Based MediaAuthors
1“A looksy backsy on Huntinality 3” (Blog)Pichusuperlover
2“Accessibility, Americanisms, and the location-attendance question” (Blog)Thomas Gordon (MetaTerminal)
3“Cute Mage’s Tower” (Website/Blogs)Jen McTeague (Cute Mage)
4“mystery hunt write-up” (Blog)Lumia Neyo
5“Puzzlvaria” (Website/Blogs)Dan Katz
6“Two hundred puzzles, fifty years later” (Blog)CJ Quines
7“Writing MIT Mystery Hunt 2023” (Blog)Alex Irpan (Titandrake)
8“RockmanEX3” (Youtube)
9“Christopher Night” (Youtube)
10“Cypher House” (Youtube)
11“pzl_slvr” (Youtube)
12“QuizzyDan” (Twitch)
WOther Significant Community Contributions
1David Altizio (djmathman)For puzzle streams and contributions to the logic puzzle community.
2David Millar and Jamie HargroveFor organising Puzzler Pride 2023, a showcase of logic puzzles from LGBTQ+ authors from the community.
3LeavingLeavesFor creating puzz.link assistance user script for logic puzzle solving
4Lennard Sprong (X_Sheep)For maintaining puzz.link website and ongoing technical contributions to the logic puzzle community.
5PedroFor maintaining Pedro’s Works, a website with support for solving many logic puzzle genres.
6Swaroop Guggilam and Deb MohantyFor reinventing Penpa+, and creating LMI and LMI Expo, websites for curating, publishing and solving logic puzzles.
7Thomas SnyderFor creating Grandmaster Puzzles, a community with thousands of logic puzzles over the years.
8Will ShortzFor curating New York Times crosswords for decades.

Special Acknowledgements

XSpecial Acknowledgement
teammateFor significantly revising MITMH23 after the event had started for the good of the hunt, including cutting an entire round.
YSpecial Acknowledgement
Dan Egnor; Brent Holman, Jeff Wallace, and Curtis ChenFor maintaining the Puzzlehunt Calendar and the Puzzlehunt Planning team, respectively.
ZLifetime Achievement Award
Jack LanceFor a lifetime of exceptional virtuosity, insight, and kindness; and a vastly creative body of work that shall stand forever as a testament to his existence. You can view his work here and here. JoeltheFox has linked some additional resources for viewing Jack’s work here.

(To access the QR Code Sequence, click the link, press L, then type in 11111111111111111111111011111111111
111111111111111111111111111111111101111101011101010111111111111111111111111111110111111111111111011. The QR Code Sequence is the set of 6 dots arranged vertically in the bottom left.)

(To access the Final Keypad, click the link, press L, then type in 11111111111111111111111011111111111
111111111111111111111111111111111101111101011101010111111111111111111111111111110111111111111111011. The QR Code Sequence is the rightmost puzzle node.)